Around Ohio

Published: August 14, 2014 2:59 PM

Harsh winter delays school report cards
Hamilton — Ohio school officials say the late release of district report cards due to winter weather is inconvenient as teachers and administrators prepare for the new school year.
The Ohio Department of Education extended spring testing windows this year due to numerous weather-related school closings, which has caused delays in report card preparation.
Marianne Mottley of the state’s education department told the Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News that the report cards, which are usually released in August, aren’t expected until mid-September this year.
School officials say districts use the report cards for assessment and to identify improvement areas as they start a new school year.
Until the report cards are released, school districts can access raw test scores, performance indexes and graduation rates through an online data center.
— Associated PresS

Teen returns to team after rape case
Steubenville — A former Ohio high school football player found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl after an alcohol-fueled party two years ago returned to the field Aug. 12 with his old team.
Ma’Lik Richmond played for Steubenville High School in a scrimmage against Cambridge, WTOV-TV reported.
Richmond and fellow athlete Trent Mays were adjudicated delinquent in the August 2012 assault on a West Virginia girl. Richmond was sentenced to one year in juvenile detention and Mays, who was also found guilty of using his phone to take a naked picture of the underage girl, was sentenced to two years.
Richmond, now 18, was classified as a Tier II sex offender last August, meaning he will have to register every six months for the next 20 years.
The school’s football coach, Reno Saccoccia, said Richmond returned to school in January and was suspended from extracurricular activities for the remainder of the year. He told the TV station “it was a horrible crime,” but Richmond completed everything the judicial system asked of him.
— Associated PresS

Teen arrested for kicking cat in video
Akron — A Northeast Ohio teen has been arrested and charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty after a video allegedly showing him kicking a stray cat went viral.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that 18-year-old Trevonte Mitchell was arrested Aug. 13. He could face six months in jail if convicted.
Police say Mitchell admitted kicking the stray cat Aug. 6 while he and a friend walked on the street. The friend recorded the kick and posted it on Facebook.
The video showed the cat being kicked into the air and landing on a sidewalk and running away. Mitchell is shown laughing, and the friend is heard chuckling.
The video was shared often and led to an investigation by police and the humane society.
Police say Mitchell has expressed remorse.
— Associated PresS

More guns being detected at airports
Dayton — Federal transportation officials say more firearms are showing up at airport checkpoints in Ohio and around the country — and most have been loaded.
Most recently in Ohio, Transportation Security Administration officers detected a loaded handgun in a passenger’s carry-on bag at the Dayton International Airport on Aug. 10. Dayton Daily News reports it’s the third firearm confiscated by airport police this year — compared to just one in all of 2013.
The passenger was licensed to carry the gun, and he was not arrested.
TSA spokesman Mark Howell says through June, the agency has detected 1,025 firearms at checkpoints nationwide, a 25 percent increase over the same point a year ago.
That’s included nine firearms at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport; two in Cleveland; 12 in Port Columbus; and one at Akron/Canton.
— Associated PresS

OSU’s iconic lake
to be refilled
Columbus — Ohio State University is going to refill its iconic Mirror Lake using water from an underground well.
Crews were to start pumping water from the well on Aug. 13 into the campus lake that has been empty since it was drained in December.
The university emptied the lake to look for a new source after finding that it took 50,000 gallons of water a day to keep it filled.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that studies on water from the recently drilled well show that it is a safe alternative to the water that Ohio State previously bought from the city to fill the lake.
A company hired by the university drilled 140 feet down to tap into water below ground. The lake will fill up over the next week.
— Associated PresS